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The Meal Planning Secret...

5/25/2016

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by Audrey
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It's that time again...time to cook dinner.  The dreaded question...what are you going to make?  Then proceeds at least half an hour of searching pinterest, or cookbooks, trying hopelessly to find an idea you have the time and means to prepare.  Thereafter comes the frustration of time wasted and nothing exciting to make. In the end it ends up being one of your fall back meals, or even better, a pre-processed meal that is anything but satisfying in the flavorful and nutritional departments...UGH...

Sound familiar?  This is where I'd raise my hand, guilty as charged.  I often have so many good intentions but without a plan it often falls through and puts a damper on the rest of the evening.  Now, I'm sure you all have the perfect solution to this problem, but I thought I'd share one of my tricks for any of you poor souls that may be like me.  It includes (dare I say it...) PLANNING!  I know, that requires time and effort!  Who has time for that?! But honestly, it may require a half hour or so planning session for a week's worth of meals instead of wasting that same amount of time daily, or even every meal, figuring out what to cook.  So, at least for me, it actually saves a lot of time and gets me more excited to cook meals from scratch! (Which, if you've read my previous posts, you know is totally worth it to me!
Now, if the picture at the top of this blog didn't give away my big secret to meal planning, let me clue you in.  Use a Menu Board!  What? That's not a secret? Ok, fine.  But still, it can make a huge difference in your exciting dinner cooking success rate.  It's worked for me...and I can certainly tell when I don't use it too.  Menu boards are a great asset in a kitchen for many reasons, and those reasons will vary depending on whose kitchen you're in, but here are a few of them.
Reach your meal cooking goals!  Trying to eat healthier?  Plan for it!  You can choose meals that have more whole grains, more vegetables, less carbs, more organic.  It really doesn't matter what your health goals are, you can have those types of meals planned out and written on your menu board, ready to go. Trying to cook out of your food storage? Trying to keep shopping trips under a budget? Trying to eat out of the garden/orchard? Or my personal favorite...Trying out as many of your pinterest recipes as possible? =)  We all have goals to reach and a little planning can go a long way in helping us be more successful in achieving those goals.

Make shopping that much more simple!  When you have your meals planned out, you know what ingredients you have and what needs to be on your shopping list.  Often when people don't know exactly what they need, they have a tendency to come home with a lot of extra.  It saves time and money to know what you need because you can get in, out, and on your way without all that extra.

Lastly, I want to point out that this menu board is YOURS.  You get to personalize it to fit YOUR needs, not mine, not your aunts-best friends-daughters-cousin.  It's yours, and needs to work for YOU.  Mine is homemade with a metal magnet board mounted behind a frame I built, then painted and sanded to make it more rustic.  All I use is dry erase markers on it, listing 7-8 meals.  I don't even specify the day.  I prefer the freedom of knowing what I have and deciding what I have the time and energy to prepare.  You may be able to find one you can buy, or you can make your own if that's your preference.  Pinterest has some awesome ideas for menu boards!  Think through your needs/wants for your board.  Do you want it listed by day?  Every meal or just dinner?  Entrees only, or include side dishes, drinks and desserts as well?  Do you want one week worth, or a month?  To finish it all off, what do you want it to look like? Home decor that can be as glamorous or as homey as you'd like.  My sister and my son helped decorate mine!!  (yes, the dry erase marker all over the frame would be my sons doing...but at least I get to smile often because of the touch of family on my menu board.)  The options are endless, but with a little thought, you should be able to figure out what may be most beneficial for you.
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I hope this gives you a few good ideas on meal planning for your own home.  It's wonderful to have meals planned that you can look forward to.  Good luck in your own meal planning endeavours and if you have some of your own ideas or experiences, feel free to share in the comments below.

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Victory Seed Company, A Little Known Gem

1/30/2016

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by Jared Neibaur
The beginning of the year is seed catalog season and if you are anything like me you look forward to each new seed catalog that will come. I spend time comparing the varieties in each as each company has its own special exclusive seed, for this reason I am always on the lookout for little known seed companies. Last year I came across a small seed company out of Oregon that is dedicated to the preservation of old and rare seed varieties. I was immediately impressed by their commitment to their craft and was later impressed by their helpful website. It was just too good not to share.

Marby's Yellow Watermelon

Victory Seeds Marby's Yellow Watermelon
With a focus on quality, Victory Seed Company offers a good selection of tried and true heirloom, non-gmo, and open pollinated seed.  They also have a fairly good selection of rare and interesting seed that they are working to save and preserve. I have been pleased with the seed that I have bought from them. The best part for me is that they package each order from their seed supply, meaning it doesn't sit on a shelf for months in a little paper pouch before I buy it. That technique keeps the seed just that much more fresh in the end.
Unlike many small home grown seed companies, Victory Seed has a wealth of gardening information on their website. Though their wisdom grew from gardening in Oregon the information on their website is extremely helpful, even for me here in Idaho. There is some great information on seed starting and seed saving. I have often used their localized climate information as well. Besides the gardening and growing information, they have some fun articles about the history of gardening, especially the victory gardens of WWII.

Dunton Family Farms

Victory Seed Company is part of Dunton Family Farms. This family has been farming their ground in Oregon for five generations now. They have been using organic farming methods on their farm since the 1980's. They haven't chased after the USDA's "certified organic" label, which unfortunately  doesn't mean much anymore anyway,  but they have been certified through a grassroots organization instead. (Find it Here)

Follow Victory Seeds

Victory Seeds Blog

​Victory Seed Offers

Vegetable Seeds
Grain Seeds
Herb Seeds
Cover Crop Seeds
Hand Forged Tools
Apparel
Custom Seed Favors

Check out Victory Seed Company on the Garden Watchdog here. They are in the top 30.

A Video From the VictorySeeds YouTube Channel

Full disclosure here. It is important to note that this review is my honest evaluation of the Victory Seed Company. I have not been paid for writing this article. I personally met Mike Dunton last summer and I was truly impressed by the company's down-to-earth nature. Do them a favor and check them out! Their catalogue and website aren't nice and shiny like other big names out there, but their products and information are real quality.
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Building My Underground Greenhouse Part 1

1/21/2016

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Adding the roof to the underground greenhouse.
I am so excited to share the progress of my underground greenhouse with you. I have worked little by little on this project for more than a year now, working on digging and building as I had time and as I found materials. In this blog post I will briefly show the process and some of the highlights of the digging and building. I won’t go into the details of how to build your own, but I hope the future builder will use my project for ideas. I will also be adding most of my info in the captions of the pictures I post. Feel free to browse the gallery.
The vision for this greenhouse was to create something that could be easier to heat and cool in my crazy Idaho climate. I really liked the idea of the walipini (google it) underground greenhouses that have become popular among modern homesteaders. I wanted room to build a medium size aquaponics system and I also wanted something big enough to house a small citrus tree (if I could keep the greenhouse warm enough). The greenhouse I built is the result. Now we have to see how well it works. ​
So far this winter the greenhouse has done fairly well to keep things warm even though I don't have all my systems in place to keep it warm. I didn't have the time I wanted to finish everything. All good things to those who wait, right? I have been able to start building my pond for my aquaponics, and design a concept for a rocket stove heating system. I will write blog posts about those as they come about. In the meantime, watch this video tour of the greenhouse. 
Thank you again for supporting SimpleGround. We would love to hear about your greenhouse experiences. Don't forget to follow us on any of our social media pages. 
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